Disney Channels Return to DIRECTV, New Genre-Specific Packages to Be Available
After nearly two weeks that saw DIRECTV customers without Disney-owned channels, the carriage dispute between the two companies has officially ended, just as the third full week of college football and second week of NFL action is ready to get underway. When the two sides were unable to come to a new agreement, Disney pulled its channels off of all DIRECTV satellite and streaming services on Sunday, Sept. 1, leading subscribers to miss the season’s first “Monday Night Football” game, a weekend of college action, and all of the other programs available across Disney’s 16 broadcast and cable channels. But on Saturday, the two sides announced that they had come to an agreement in principle that they say will provide “greater choice, value, and flexibility” for customers.
Key Details
- All 16 Disney-owned channels have been restored to DIRECTV’s satellite and streaming platforms
- DIRECTV has won the right to offer genre-specific channel lineups.
- Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN+ will be included in select DIRECTV packages.
The details of the new carriage contract are still being hammered out, so specifics are not yet readily available, but a press release from DIRECTV indicates that the live TV streaming service will be able to offer “multiple genre-specific” channel lineups featuring Disney-owned channels that will presumably be at lower prices than the traditional packages. This would only be possible if Disney loosened its demands for channel penetration, meaning that the media conglomerate will not require that all of its channels be available in every possible channel lineup. Such demands require that the distributors — DIRECTV in this case — pay more in carriage fees that inevitably must be passed on to customers. The issue is that by including all of the channels on even the base package means that customers often end up paying for channels that they don’t watch.
With this newfound flexibility, DIRECTV plans to offer entertainment, news, and sports-specific channel packages, and will also be able to provide subscribers with access to Disney’s suite of streaming services. The Disney Bundle services will be available in select DIRECTV packages free of charge, and Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN+ will be available as a la carte add-on items as well. Of further interest to sports fans, when Disney launches its ESPN Flagship streaming service in 2025, DIRECTV customers will receive access to that service for free as well.
“Through this first-of-its-kind collaboration, DIRECTV and Disney are giving customers the ability to tailor their video experience through more flexible options,” the two sides said in a statement. “DIRECTV and Disney have a long-standing history of connecting consumers to the best entertainment, and this agreement furthers that commitment by recognizing both the tremendous value of Disney’s content and the evolving preferences of DIRECTV’s customers. We’d like to thank all affected viewers for their patience and are pleased to restore Disney’s entire portfolio of networks in time for college football and the Emmy Awards this weekend.”
The Streamable’s Take
Throughout the two-week ordeal, DIRECTV has been arguing that this carriage battle was about more than just how much it would have to pay Disney to distribute the Mouse House’s channels. Instead, it was about preserving the future of the pay-TV industry. Coupled with the antitrust lawsuit against the Disney, Fox, and Warner Bros. Disvoery sports streaming joint venture Venu Sports that sports-focused live streamer Fubo has brought, there is hope that cable, satellite, and streaming providers will no longer find themselves bound to the decades-old practice of channel bundling.
While we still need to wait to learn all of the details included in the DIRECTV and Disney deal, this could potentially be the first step in allowing consumers to have the freedom to pick and choose channel packages that better fit their viewing habits. Based on how DIRECTV phrased its comments in the agreement announcement, it does not seem that the company will be offering full a la carte channel packages, where viewers can hand-pick only the channels that they are interested in, but providing more focused options will allow for consumers to lower their bills while getting a more tailored viewing experience.
My concern is that these eventual entertainment, sports, and news packages will be too hyper-focused, leaving many consumers having to either stack the options or settle for the existing channel lineups that require them to pay for things they aren’t interested in. I would imagine that very few households only watch entertainment channels. At some point, they will also want to turn on a cable news channel or watch a sporting event not found on a broadcast network. If they do those things regularly, will any of the new, skinnier packages accommodate their needs?
Only time will tell what DIRECTV — and future distributors who negotiate for this type of flexibility — offers its customers. But I am hopeful that there will be a thinned down channel lineup that goes more broad than deep, allowing customers to get a reasonable mix of top channels unbound by the more niche networks that they don’t have any interest in watching.
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